New Chevy Malibu boasts 'stop-start'

Do you want a car that automatically stops and starts to help you save gas?

General Motors is betting that you do. The 2014 Chevrolet Malibu is the first in its segment
that comes with a standard engine that has
“stop-start” technology, the company says.

The updated Malibu, which arrived at dealers in mid-September, shuts off the gasoline engine at
stop lights and in other situations in which the car is not moving. When the engine is off, the car
relies on a battery to operate the climate and entertainment systems. Then, when the car begins to
move, the engine re-starts in a fraction of a second.

“It works seamlessly with all driving conditions and is almost imperceptible,” Greg Browning, a
development engineer for the Malibu, said in a statement. “The driver doesn’t have to do a thing –
the Malibu does all the work.”

The model gets 36 mpg on the highway and 25 mpg in the city, which are improvements of 14
percent and 6 percent compared to the previous model year, respectively.

I was skeptical of stop-start systems when I first experienced them with hybrid cars. I imagined
a noisy engine restart, but found the feature to almost unnoticeable.

If others follow the Malibu, the technology may soon be popping up all over the new-car lot.

For more on the Malibu, the Detroit Free Press,
wrote today about the model and the stakes with this latest version.